Tanko Mohammed
Nigeria has received $6.15 billion as grant from various international bodies to boost its power sector and improve electricity supply which had been epileptic.
The Minister of Power, Mr Sale Mamman, said on August 28, 2020 in Abuja that $3.2 billion was secured from Siemens of Germany and $1.6 billion dollars from donor agencies.
He said that the money would fast track the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP).
In a further breakdown, he reported that the $1.7 billion was secured from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
He said that $550 million had been earmarked for the Nigerian Electricity Project (NEP), a rural electrification project being funded by the World Bank and AfDB.
Mamman said with the fund, the ministry has begun implementing critical infrastructure to transform generation, transmission, and distribution of 25,000 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity by 2025.
“The Siemens project will raise power to 7, 000MW in the first phase which just began, focusing on quick wins for both Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN ) and the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).
“The expected projects under the Siemens deal include 105 substations’ rehabilitation, 70 new substations, manufacturing and installation of 35 power transformers and installation of 3,765 distribution transformers.
“There will also be over 5,000 kilometres of transmission lines to be constructed.’’
Under his supervision, TCN is also implementing the $1.6 billion Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP) with funding from development partners like World Bank, AfDB, and JICA.
He listed the key projects impacted by the fund to include Alaoji-Onitsha and Kaduna-Kano power line among others.
According to him, work is ongoing to complete the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant worth $1.2 billion aimed at generating 700MW. Zungeru project is 73 per cent completed.
He reported that Nigeria has also embarked on the 3050MW Mambilla hydropower project which is expected to increase the national grid by 30 per cent.
“It is worth $5.7 billion with China providing $4.85 billion while the Federal Government $850 million. The main construction works include four large dams – Nya, Sumsum, Nghu, and API Weir in Taraba state.”
Mamman said that the government had also finished the 40MW Kashimbilla hydropower plant in Taraba.
“We are currently working on the development and expansion of transmission lines to evacuate power from the project site to areas of distribution.
“There is also the 40MW Dadin Kowa hydropower plant in Gombe State, while overhauling the 240MW Afam Power Plant.”
According to the minister, the Federal Government is working to increase energy access for an estimated 80 million Nigerians that are without electricity access through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA),
He said that the ministry was also mapping out unserved clusters to provide a digital database of the distribution grid system.
The minister noted that efforts were on-going to close the gap between generation capacity and distribution as a means of reducing losses with individual capacity.
He said that the sector was already contending with a huge loss of more than $700 million from unutilised power.
“Just on August 18, TCN achieved an unprecedented peak distribution of 5,420MW of power to the 14 Distribution Companies (DisCos), being the third of such milestones.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria needed to generate and effectively distribute 40,000 megawatts of electricity to partially satisfy national demand.
